


Excuse me, is someone bothering you?

by jessequicksters



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Conner and Zatanna are super protective bros, F/M, Gen, Zatanna threatens Superman like it's nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24616222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessequicksters/pseuds/jessequicksters
Summary: When Zatanna first joins the team as an insecure teenage girl, Conner has her back. When they're both adults and Conner is still struggling with daddy issues, Zatanna returns the favour. Every good friendship needs a healthy dose of magic and muscle.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Zatanna Zatara, Kon-El | Conner Kent & Zatanna Zatara
Comments: 6
Kudos: 46





	Excuse me, is someone bothering you?

**Author's Note:**

> the power of their friendship would be unmatched and this is why YJ could never give it to us

It’s difficult enough trying to save the world on a daily basis; it’s even more difficult when you’re dealing with a group of rowdy teenagers.

Zatanna has friends, sure. But she keeps her distance at school, because well—her powers tend to be unstable. Her dad can get pretty protective of her, too, so when he finally agreed that she could join the team, she was ecstatic.

(And not at all prepared for what being in a team with no boundaries, no privacy and no place to hide, meant.)

It’s only her second week with them and everyone’s having an argument on the Bio-Ship over no-one-remembers what. She’s sitting next to Conner, both of whom have been watching the scene unfold in front of them.

“You just can’t help yourself, can you? You just have to be the center of attention all the time!” Wally yells at Dick.

Dick jumps out of his seat, ready to try to drag Wally out of his and wrestle him into the ground, probably. “Me? Oh, that’s rich, coming from the guy who screwed up every part of the plan!”

“Dick, will you listen to us for once? Wally was trying to save your ass,” Artemis cuts in, huffing. “Just admit it. You miscalculated. I tried to tell you that the warehouse was sealed from behind!”

“That’s what she sai—”

“Shut UP, Wally,” everyone says.

M’gann rubs her temples together and says, “Right, no more yelling. It’s not good for the ship. If you want to talk, we talk like adults on my mind-link. I’ll kick you out if you can’t be civil about it.”

“Maybe if you stop with these avoidance techniques and actually try to have a conversation with us instead of retreating into your mind fortress, we’d be a better team,” Kaldur says. 

M’gann flares up. Conner jumps out of his seat to try to comfort her, but stops in his tracks as they look at each other.

Zatanna knows that look. Everyone in the room is silent for the next minute. Expressions twist and change, arms start flailing around.

“You guys are having a telepathic conversation without me again, are you,” she says, flatly.

What was she thinking? Joining this band of spoiled, legacy brats, none of whom can make a single decision without imploding on each other? And she has nothing to contribute, not because she doesn’t want to be involved in the fight, but because she can’t even focus on anything but the spells she messed up during the mission.

No one’s chosen to pick a fight with her over it, or scold her for screwing up. Is she not even worth taking seriously?

She’s not one of them. She can never be. Maybe she should just go home to her dad, tell her that he was right and that she isn’t ready for this.

Everyone turns towards her all of a sudden.

“What?” Zatanna says, and M’gann gives her a sympathetic look. Oh. “I was on the line, wasn’t I? You guys were listening.”

 _Yeah, we heard you_ , Dick replies, dropping his gaze.

She runs off to the back of the ship and lets out a little cry.

To her surprise, she feels a heavy hand on her shoulder as she’s wiping her tears away. She sees the shadow of a rather large someone sitting down next to her.

“Hey,” Conner says. “You okay?”

 _“Sraet og yawa,”_ she says in barely a whisper. She takes a breath and nods.

Conner frowns. “You don’t have to do that. Not around me. Or any of us.”

Zatanna lets out a weak laugh. “Yes, I do. Everyone already knows I’m not—my dad thinks I’m not ready for this. Batman, too, apparently.”

“Batman has ridiculously high standards,” Conner smiles. “I’m pretty sure Dick doesn’t meet them, either. And I’m the same way with, you know, the big guy.”

“Oh. Superman?”

He nods. “He always seems disappointed, whenever he looks at me. But none of that matters to anyone here. You know, we’re always impressed by you.”

“Me? I haven’t even done—I still don’t feel like I’m not pulling my weight. You guys always have these new ideas, new ways of looking at things or trying to come up with strategies for our missions. Every second I spend off the field I’m practicing spells in my head.”

Conner shrugs. “Everyone has their strengths. Look at me, I’m just the muscle guy.”

It’s nice, actually, talking to someone levelheaded, who’s not trying to pry into her mind or ask her a million questions about her life. She's always thought of Conner as brooding and intimidating. Now she realizes that he’s probably a lot like her, just wanting to get by without people crossing boundaries.

“Besides, the reason why no one yelled at you was because we had nothing to yell at you for. You were the only one who did what you were supposed to on this mission. Sure, it took you a while to break those chains, but you stayed focused on what you had to do and you kept trying until you did it. Better than the rest of us.”

“That’s—that’s really nice of you to say, Conner,” she smiles, for the first time tonight. “Thanks.”

“If you’re ready, they’re all waiting for you back in there. We all owe you an apology.”

He stands up and pulls her up to her feet.

“Oh, no, you guys don’t owe me anything.”

“Zatanna.”

“Okay, maybe an apology would be nice. And some peace and quiet for the rest of the flight. I really do need to meditate and practice a couple of spells in here,” she points to the side of her temple, as Conner chuckles and nods.

He cracks his knuckles like they’re about to go into a fight.

Judging by the way he’s standing next to her like a guard dog ready to attack in front of the rest of the team, he might actually be.

“Listen up, everyone,” he starts, and okay, Zatanna’s never actually heard Conner address the room like this. She forgets, because of his usually quiet demeanor, that he can break people with two fingers.

“You’re going to apologize to Zatanna. She deserves a little more respect, and team members she can rely on. Not just to watch her back on the field, but to listen to her. And we all know we suck at doing that.”

Zatanna’s probably blushing ten shades of red right now, but someone in the room had to say it. She thinks she’ll be able to stay on the team for a little longer, if this keeps up.

-

Years later, Zatanna gets promoted to join the League.

She celebrates with the team at Barry’s place, where everyone’s toasting to her and Raquel, their newest members.

Zatanna’s been sitting on Dick’s lap for the past twenty minutes as the two of them share a slice of cake. Dick licks off a bit of frosting from her nose and she has to push his face away the second she sees Barry and Iris walking past.

Drinks are flying around, Artemis and Wally are cornering Bart in the kitchen for something he did last night, Kaldur is trying to make sure L’gann doesn’t embarrass the Atlantean crest, while M’gann is quietly sitting in the corner of the room, absentmindedly watching the door.

“Hey, I’ll be right back,” Zatanna says, patting Dick on the head as she walks over to M’gann.

She’s thinking about the fact that Conner isn’t here. They broke up a couple of weeks ago and it’s been hard on all of them. Conner told them he’d come, but he had to head to Metropolis for an important conversation with Clark.

He’s been getting worked up about it all week.

“If you know so much about how he’s feeling, will you go check on him for me?” M’gann asks. “He gets sensitive when it comes to him and Clark. I know it’s not my place anymore—and he’s always relaxed around you.”

Zatanna nods. “Of course, I’ll see how he’s doing.”

She teleports herself to him and winds up in an office in Metropolis, where Conner punches through the wall inches away from her face.

His eyes go wide when he notices she’s there. “Zatanna? What are you doing here?”

Zatanna looks to the other side of the room and sees Clark, taking off his glasses and looking frustrated.

“I was just checking to see if you were okay,” she says, deciding to keep M’gann’s name out of it. “We’re celebrating at Barry’s now, if you’re still up for joining.”

Conner places a hand on his forehead. “I promised I’d be there. I’m sorry, Zatanna, I just got caught up in—” he looks at Clark, who’s giving him a look that looks almost like a warning.

What the hell is going on?

“Right,” she says, walking over to Clark and planting her feet down. “I don’t know what it is you think he’s done to besmirch your name this time, but I’ve had enough. He deserves _better_. And every single time Conner does something good, not even for himself—because it’s never about himself—it’s just never enough for you.”

Clark stares at her, wordlessly, as does Conner.

He finally settles on, “Zatanna, I apologize if I’ve done anything to offend you.”

At the lack of a response, offers something perhaps a little more honest in, “I am trying.”

“Then do better,” she replies, without missing a beat. “It's not me you need to apologize to. Conner has always made sure to let me know that I was never alone. You, of all people, should know how important that is.”

She wants to go on, but she knows this isn’t her fight. She turns around and finds Conner standing next to her.

“I think I’ll go with you now.” Conner glowers at Clark, “Don’t follow us.”

“At your command,” she replies, trying to maintain a lighthearted tone. Clark takes a step towards them, which results in Conner flinching slightly.

Zatanna raises her hand up towards him and says: _“Yats dednuorg thginot.”_

When they return to the party, everyone starts crowding around her to ask her if she really did take away Superman’s powers of flight for the night. She's never been very good at escaping attention, no matter where she went or what she did. Judging by the satisfied grin on Conner's face, she has a green light to take the floor.

Barry raises an eyebrow when she tells them. “I didn’t even think that was possible. Be careful around Batsy with that. He might start coming to you for favours.”

“How much of your magical powers did that even take, Zee?” Raquel asks. Her eyes are sparkling with the possibilities of what they'll achieve when they start playing with the adults.

Raquel's already poised to make a bold entrance, considering she's already been jumping on League missions all month. _Just because I can_ , she says. And if Zatanna already taking on Superman before day one then they're both as well-positioned as rookies can be.

“Oh, you know. It takes a little practice, that’s all,” she says, smiling at Conner. “Magic is a little bit like muscle sometimes—you never know how strong you are until you push a little harder. Or take on someone twice your size.”

He laughs, and she happily takes that as an agreement.


End file.
